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In the coming weeks, Blizzard plans to make some changes to Overwatch 2 that should make both matchmaking and ranked competitive play a little bit better. These are areas that fans have been complaining about for months, ever since the game's release really, that are only now getting addressed.
In their latest developer blog, Blizzard says that they have "seen feedback on matches with wide skill variation," and will be tackling those issues soon. In theory, the changes that are coming should ensure more balanced matches for players. This should, again in theory, ensure that there will be fewer instances where one team just steamrolls the other from the start.
Here’s what we’re currently seeing in ranked
We’ve seen your feedback on matches with wide skill variation, and we want to talk about a few reasons that could be happening as well as our plans to address your concerns.
We allow players to group together even when there’s a difference in the MMR between party members, and this is a major source of wide skill disparities in matches. We’re working on some changes that will match parties with similar MMR disparities together more frequently, which we expect to noticeably reduce how often we make wide matches. This will make it much less likely for a solo player or a party with a narrow skill disparity to end up in a match with a wide skill disparity.
Often matches with a wide displayed skill tier difference still look very close when looking at the difference in MMR between the two teams. The partial rank reset at the beginning of the season may be exaggerating this by making it look like someone is lower than their actual rank. However, regardless of the seasonal reset, both skill tier and MMR can decay over time for players who are inactive for a considerable amount of time. Players who return may see dramatic shifts to their skill tiers as they resume playing regularly, and the game becomes more certain of that player’s current skill.
We’ve also seen the community talk about inconsistent games or how some games feel incredibly one-sided, and that feedback has been helpful. Understanding what causes one-sided matches and how to reduce their frequency has become a major area of focus for our team. This is a tricky problem because one-sided matches can happen in Overwatch, even between balanced teams. So, our first step has been to study the problem and understand the various factors that can cause one-sided matches, and we’re planning to share what we learn with you in a developer blog down the road.
We’ve seen your feedback on matches with wide skill variation, and we want to talk about a few reasons that could be happening as well as our plans to address your concerns.
We allow players to group together even when there’s a difference in the MMR between party members, and this is a major source of wide skill disparities in matches. We’re working on some changes that will match parties with similar MMR disparities together more frequently, which we expect to noticeably reduce how often we make wide matches. This will make it much less likely for a solo player or a party with a narrow skill disparity to end up in a match with a wide skill disparity.
Often matches with a wide displayed skill tier difference still look very close when looking at the difference in MMR between the two teams. The partial rank reset at the beginning of the season may be exaggerating this by making it look like someone is lower than their actual rank. However, regardless of the seasonal reset, both skill tier and MMR can decay over time for players who are inactive for a considerable amount of time. Players who return may see dramatic shifts to their skill tiers as they resume playing regularly, and the game becomes more certain of that player’s current skill.
We’ve also seen the community talk about inconsistent games or how some games feel incredibly one-sided, and that feedback has been helpful. Understanding what causes one-sided matches and how to reduce their frequency has become a major area of focus for our team. This is a tricky problem because one-sided matches can happen in Overwatch, even between balanced teams. So, our first step has been to study the problem and understand the various factors that can cause one-sided matches, and we’re planning to share what we learn with you in a developer blog down the road.
Ranking updates will also move from 26 matches played to updating every 5 wins and 15 losses. The UI will also get an update that will show how far along you are towards getting one of these competitive ranking updates.
In Season 4, Blizzard says that they are planning to remove seasonal competitive rank resets "and all current and past seasonal rank decay." Beyond Chapter 4, Blizzard says they are "planning to provide new ways for players to share a challenge and competitive experience in Overwatch 2." As that is still quite a ways away, details on those particular changes were not yet provided.
